While we wait for Darren Aronofsky to announce his next feature project, the below clip is as good a placeholder as any. The filmmaker recently participated alongside psychologist and neuroscientist Jeffrey M. Zacks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences event “Movies in Your Brain: The Science of Cinematic Perception.” And as you might expect, the discussion from the event contained in the clip is fascinating.

The filmmaker talks at length about the “pan-cultural” connection between myth and storytelling, while Zacks details how humans in general conceive and relate to narrative. It’s part of a broader discussion of how movies impact the brain, our perception of events, and what that means for a director. And as the clip closes, Aronofsky shares his views on the general value of tragedy in storytelling, a powerful quality he feels has been slowly wiped away by Hollywood’s desire for happy endings. Watch below.